Austrian police arrest three suspects after 71 bodies found in lorry

Three people were arrested on Friday in connection with the deaths of 71 migrants found in an abandoned lorry found on an Austrian motorway on Thursday.

Although Austrian officials originally estimated the number of bodies to be between 20 and 50, the country's interior ministry announced an updated death toll on Friday.

Police discovered the decomposing bodies inside the refrigerated lorry near the Hungarian border on Thursday morning, and believed they had been dead for one and a half to two days,

Forensic teams worked throughout the night to examine the bodies.

"Work continued throughout the night, but I expect all the bodies have been removed now," said Helmut Marban, a police spokesman for the Austrian Burgenland province.

"Forensic investigators are still at the lorry and trying to establish all the facts."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday admitted she was "shaken" by the discovery as she was taking part of a summit with Balkan leaders on the migrant crisis.

"This is a warning to us to tackle this migrants issue quickly and in a European spirit, which means in a spirit of solidarity, and to find solutions," Merkel said.

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